The Vizio D-series is a decent budget-priced 4K TV line hindered by a dated connected platform.

Vizio has been bullish on high dynamic range (HDR) and its SmartCast connected platform for its higher-end televisions, but those upgrades have yet to be extended to the more affordable D-Series. The 2017 4K D-Series shows strong contrast numbers, but it still relies on a years-old smart TV platform for apps and streaming services, and its color gamut is limited. The list price is attractive at $899.99 for the 65-inch D65-E0 we tested, but you can find better performance in that range elsewhere, including our Editors' Choice, the TCL P-Series.

Editors' Note: This review is based on tests performed on the Vizio D65-E0, the 65-inch model in the series. Besides the screen size difference, the 43-inch $419.99 D43-E2 is identical in features, and we expect similar performance.

Design

The D65-E0 looks almost indistinguishable from last year's model. It has a very plain design, with flat glossy black plastic bezels without any notable visual element besides a silver-colored Vizio logo in the lower right corner. When used on a table or other flat surface, the TV stands on two V-shaped black plastic feet that mount on the far sides of the bottom. Because the feet are so far apart, you need to make sure the surface you place the TV on is wide around to support them both; it's a little trickier finding a secure place for it than it is for a TV mounted on a flat-bottom base with a single center pillar.

An HDMI port, two USB ports, and a component video input face left on the back of the D65-E0. The other three HDMI ports are located less conveniently facing downward, along with optical and stereo RCA audio outputs, an Ethernet port, and an antenna/cable connector. Power, Volume Up/Down, and Input buttons sit in front of the side ports on the back of the TV; for more complicated controls you need to use the remote.

The included remote is designed around Vizio's aging, clunky Vizio Internet Apps Plus (VIA Plus) connected platform rather than the SmartCast interface found on higher-end Vizio TVs. It's a button-laden, rectangular black wand with a prominent square-shaped direction pad surrounded by menu navigation buttons. Playback controls and dedicated buttons for iHeartRadio, Netflix, and Xumo sit above the navigation pad, while the VIA Plus button, volume and channel rockers, and a number pad sit below it. The navigation pad feels oddly wiggly and cheap, making clicky sounds with the slightest tap (even when it didn't activate the buttons).

Vizio Internet Apps Plus

VIA Plus is a fairly functional connected TV platform, but its interface design and app selection lag far behind more modern interfaces like the Roku TV (used by the TCL P-series) and Amazon Fire TV (in the Element Fire TV Edition) platforms, or LG's webOS. You can use it to access big-name streaming services like Amazon, Google Play Movies & TV, Hulu, Netflix, Vudu, and YouTube, and get news, sports, and weather with widgets, but beyond that VIA Plus just doesn't have much to offer. It lags behind Vizio's own SmartCast system used on TVs like the Vizio M-series, which relies on the Google Cast platform and its much wider selection of supported apps and services.

Performance

We test TVs using a DVDO AVLab 4K test pattern generator, a Klein K-10A colorimeter, and Portrait Displays' CalMAN 5 software on a Razer Blade Pro laptop, using testing methodology based on Imaging Science Foundation's calibration methods. After a basic dark room calibration with color temperature set to the warmest preset, the D65-E0 displayed a peak brightness of 243.86cd/m2 and a black level of 0.01cd/m2 for a very strong 24,386:1 contrast ratio. This is fairly typical for Vizio TVs, which tend to have excellent contrast. The TCL P-Series shows similar performance, with a 25,393:1 contrast ratio despite a slightly higher (0.02cd/m2) black level thanks to a panel that's nearly twice as bright at 507.85cd/m2.

Out of the box, the D65-E0's colors are fairly accurate, but the lack of HDR and wide color gamut support is apparent. The chart above shows ideal Rec.709 color levels as boxes and measured color levels as dots. Blues and greens are close to spot-on, but reds lean a little toward green, and whites run slightly cool. The TV also doesn't reach beyond Rec.709 color levels, which is increasingly disappointing when inexpensive televisions like the TCL P-Series and the LeEco Super4 series display remarkably wide and accurate colors that reach far past broadcast standards.

The D65-E0 performs well considering its lack of HDR and wide color gamut. Deadpool on Ultra HD Blu-ray looks generally neutral and accurate, with skin tones appearing natural in most lighting conditions. The red of Deadpool's costume doesn't stand out as particularly vivid when compared with the TCL 55P607 and its wider range of color, but the yellows and oranges of the flames in the burning lab fight are bright and full without destroying shadow detail.

BBC's Planet Earth II shows similar picture qualities, with the blues and greens of the water and trees in the "Islands" episode appearing bright and natural, if not overly vibrant. Fine textures like fur can be clearly seen in all lighting conditions. While shadows don't get quite as dark as they could considering the TV's strong contrast numbers, they never look washed out.

The Great Gatsby also shows how the D65-E0's effective contrast differs from its measured numbers. The bright lights in the nighttime party scenes push the overall brightness of the picture up, meaning the black suits don't look quite as inky dark as they should. They don't appear gray or faded, and the lights don't produce any noticeable bloom, but the suits just don't have that deep black appearance they should have in the Calibrated picture setting. The Calibrated Dark picture setting improves this, but it comes at the cost of the overall brightness, undermining the highlights of the picture to improve the shadows.

Input Lag and Power Consumption

Input lag is the amount of time between when a display receives a signal and the screen changes. In the Calibrated picture mode, the D65-E0 shows a mediocre 49.1ms input lag. Curiously, the Game picture mode has a slightly higher 50.5ms input lag when that type of mode usually cuts down lag at the expense of picture quality. The Computer picture mode shaves the lag down to 46.2ms, which isn't much of an improvement. The TCL P-Series, by contrast, shows a 15.1ms input lag in its Game mode. Casual gamers probably won't notice the lag, but enthusiasts might find it slightly distracting when playing games with very precise timing.

Under normal viewing conditions, the D65-E0 consumes 136 watts in the Calibrated picture mode. The Energy Star-compatible Standard picture mode chops that nearly in half to 70 watts, but dims the picture and noticeably makes colors look washed out. This is a solid drop from last year's 65-inch Vizio D-Series (189 and 103 watts), while featuring a brighter picture.

Conclusions

The Vizio Ultra HD D-series offers solid bang for the buck, though it lags a bit behind competitors like the TCL P-Series and the LeEco Super4 series. The VIA Plus connected platform is dated compared with the Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, and Roku TV platforms, and the remote is a bit clunky. These shortcomings would be easier to overlook if the D-Series offered excellent picture quality, but despite the very good contrast numbers it shows in testing, its color range and accuracy can't compare with TCL or LeEco's offerings. It doesn't look bad by any means, but we've seen more impressive performance in this price range, with HDR support. The TCL P-Series remains our Editors' Choice for budget televisions thanks to its superior performance and more functional Roku TV features. If money is no object and you want the best picture you can buy, LG's OLED65C7P offers fantastic colors and perfect black levels (for about four times the price).

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About the Author

Will Greenwald has been covering consumer technology for a decade, and has served on the editorial staffs of CNET.com, Sound & Vision, and Maximum PC. His work and analysis has been seen in GamePro, Tested.com, Geek.com, and several other publications. He currently covers consumer electronics in the PC Labs as the in-house home entertainment expert... See Full Bio

Vizio D43-E2

Vizio D43-E2

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